Acidity-Glossary Term of The Month

Acidity-

 I can imagine anyone reading this has a basic concept at least of what this refers to in general. With wine acidity plays a part in red and white wines. For reds it helps with balance, whites it imparts the crisp fresh aspect of the wine. If you do not have that "right amount" of acidity wines are unbalanced and makes them not the most desirable to drink.  Acidity balanced nicely with the fruit and a number of other components of the wine be it red or white making  the moment of drinking a wonderful, delightful and most enjoyable experience.

Marcus Padulchick

Wine and Your Health

For anyone who has read a newspaper, been on line, turned on the radio or flipped on the TV, I suspect you have heard at least a sound bite or two about the health benefits of wine. Sometimes we can take the idea of a benefit and turn it into a detriment.  The saying goes "everything in moderation" certainly hold true for wine. Enjoying a glass or two of your favorite red wine can be great for your overall health but can easily shift in the other direction by increasing consumption.  I am sure most of us have a clear understanding about the issues of over use of any form of adult beverage. What I wish to address in this post focuses more on the potential health issues from drinking wine that has potentially dangerous pesticides. I am not looking to single out any particular region but I must comment on the number of individuals who I know personally that have adverse reactions to consuming wine imported from Chili. I comment here on Chilean wines simply because of the concern I have for my friends, family and colleagues who have had multiple health problems from consuming these wines.  Am I saying everyone should stay away from Chilean wines? Not at all. Is it my personal opinion based on observation that there is or could be a potential issue with these wines? Let me simply state, be mindful of the wine you drink not only in the amount you consume but also in what potentially could have been sprayed as well. . (Look for my post on "Organic Wines" in a post in the near future.

By Marcus Padulchick

What could have been, may have been, must of been

I was sitting and pondering what could have been, may have been, must of been my first experience with wine. It came to me as a distant image that certainly must have been stored deep within assorted jumbled memories of a day long past. I was with my grandfather walking amongst the trellis as the vines hung full.
I remember him taking a small pair of what appeared to be small shears with a pointed end and he would move with system and method down each row cutting away at the clusters of grapes still green but with ever so slight a blush of blue and purple. I can step back into that moment and feel the sandy soil around me feet, the buzz of wasps and hornets, the sounds of a bluejay high in a old apple tree that sat just East of the small area of grapes, too small to respectfully be called a vineyard. But here we were tending to what would eventually become wine. Homemade of course, large dark bottles of it,not those 750ml baby bottles you find today. They were hefty, dark, solid and seemed at least in that moment 5 lbs each. I suspect looking back now they were far less impressive than I had imagined. Tasting the grapes from the vine to sipping a swallow no more of delicious, aromatic nectar from an old jelly jar began my journey some 40 plus years later.

...Marcus Padulchick